Rosa the Braixen: An Adventure of Sorts
by ShyGuyOfMoonside
Summary: Rosa the Braixen, apprentice of a master Mismagius witch, searches to find an ingredient for a potion. This turns into a quest to avenge her fallen master.
1. CHAPTER 1: Beginning

"Rosa, are you dense? Find the Pecha Herb!"

"Please don't call me that, master, and I really can't find it anywhere!"

Two witches, a master Mismagius and her Braixen apprentice, were in a hut located a while away from any kind of civilisation, brewing a potion with properties unknown to anyone besides Magia the Great. Magia was a witch infamous for her vast array of different spells, as well as her tendency to cause irreversible mischief over innocent townsfolk at a younger age. Both Rosa and Magia were mostly hated by the townspeople, and while the reason they hated Magia was rather obvious, the only reason they hated Rosa was due to her association with her.

"What do you mean, you can't find it anywhere?!" Magia snapped, glancing around the room in an irritated manner. "I thought you picked one up yesterday!" Magia's old age quite frequently caused her to forget things, so she made things like this up to compensate.

"N-Neither of us went out yesterday, master!" Rosa whimpered, looking at the floor. "If you want, I'll go down to the market right now and buy one..." She didn't wish to go outside since it was already getting somewhat late, but she was scared of how Magia would react if they were truly stuck with a half-finished potion.

"Very well then, go out and buy a Pecha Herb from the market. You're using your own money, though."

"Sure thing, master. I'll be back as soon as I can."

With this, Rosa opened the hut door and went on her way, being sure to take her wand with her, as well as a belt lined with offensive and defensive potions that she kept beneath her short black dress, in case of emergency. It took her about half an hour to reach the market, and the streets were crowded with Pokemon despite the time, as they typically are. Rosa waded through the ocean-like mass of commoners, scanning every stand for a Pecha Herb, when her eye finally settled on one at an unattended stall. She went up to it and asked if anyone was there, and sure enough, a Xatu in a hooded brown cloak slowly walked up to his side of the stand.

"May I help you?" he said, leering threateningly at Rosa.

"Um… yes, I'd like to purchase that Pecha Herb. How much is it?"

"The Pecha Herb?" Xatu queried flatly. "It'll set you back about 95 gold pieces."

At this, the expression on Rosa's face changed from interest to contained surprise.

"W-What?! I don't have that kind of money…" she sputtered, looking at the floor and sighing, thinking about how Magia would react if she returned to the hut without the herb.

"You can't afford it? That's okay, you could always pay for it… another way, hm?" Xatu said, eyeing Rosa up and down with a lustful look in his eyes. This understandably made her feel uncomfortable, but before she got the chance to back away, she heard shouting coming from the other end of the market street. She got a bit worried, but upon turning around and seeing the scene, her slight worry turned into a panic attack. She saw a crowd of hooded figures in heavy grey cloaks, and they were flipping stalls over and stealing from them, as well as randomly attacking Pokemon that unintentionally got in their way. Realising that they would likely attack her due to her very obviously witch-like attire that associates her with Magia, Rosa shrieked and bolted into the nearest building, which was a bar.

After Rosa stumbled into the bar, she climbed onto a stool and struggled to catch her breath. The bartender, a Snorlax, noticed her and gave her a free glass of water.

"Whoa, you alright there?" the Snorlax asked, surprised to see how much of a mess Rosa was. She nodded in response but continued panting, breathlessly explaining the scene outside.

"A raid, huh? Those happen all the time at the market. It's nothing to get worked up over."

Rosa took a sip of her water and began to calm down a little bit, but she went on high alert again when she heard the door swing open. In an effort to look inconspicuous, she tried to take a side glance at who just entered the bar, but she didn't end up needing to, because the visitor wobbled onto the stool right next to her. This visitor was a Gengar dressed in a stained, torn singlet, with worn-out green pants and black combat boots, and he looked like he was under the influence of an unhealthy amount of alcohol. Rosa silently hoped he wouldn't acknowledge her presence, but unfortunately for her, he did.

"Whassyer name, cutie?" he slurred, blinking slowly, one eye after the other. Rosa forced a nervous chuckle in response and introduced herself in as few words as possible.

"Thassa funny-lookin' getup ye got there… ye look like that witch… whasser name… Margarine or somethin'?"

"It's Magia, and I'm her apprentice, yes." Rosa saw no harm in saying this, since this Gengar looked like he couldn't process anything too complex, but she was dead wrong. As soon as she stated her affiliation with Magia, he seemed to sober up entirely, swiftly pulling out a golden scepter with a red orb at the tip and pointing it right at Rosa, much to her shock.

"What the fuck did you just say? You're associated with Magia?"

Rosa was scared out of her mind, but she slowly nodded anyway. Without warning, Gengar fired an explosive orb from his scepter, and it exploded the stool Rosa was sitting on, but when the smoke cleared, she was nowhere to be seen.

"What the - where the hell is she?!"

"She went out the back." Snorlax responded, pointing to the back door. Gengar swore and ran for the door to the back of the bar, rambling something about how killing Rosa is one step closer to ridding the world of Magia. After Gengar left, Snorlax ducked below the counter, where Rosa was hiding. He had grabbed her off the stool and put her under the counter when Gengar fired, saving her from being killed. Under the counter, Rosa was curled up in a ball, hyperventilating.

"Hey, relax! He's gone now!"

Rosa crawled out from under the counter and took a few shaky breaths before standing up, her legs trembling like mad. In between breaths, she asked a number of one-word questions, and Snorlax explained.

"That Gengar's actually the famous evil sorcerer, Grimm. Legends say he had some kind of beef with Magia many years ago, and she sealed him between dimensions using a spell. He only came back the other day, and he's pissed and wants revenge."

Rosa coughed and attempted to regain her composure by breathing deeply.

"W-What's he doing hanging out in a bar getting drunk?"

"That, I don't know. Maybe he needs a way to calm down his emotions towards Magia before hunting her down. Sorry to say, but looks like you sparked his anger again, and if you're really her apprentice, then you might have to watch your back for a while. Hey, you want to stay the night at my inn? I'll make it free for you."

Without a second thought, Rosa accepted the offer. Sleep sounded pretty good to her at that point, and she figured she'd just go back to Magia's hut the next day and tell her she couldn't find the Pecha Herb. For that night, though, Snorlax guided Rosa to his inn which was connected to the bar, and she made her way to her room and got ready to sleep, removing her floppy black witch hat, boots, potion belt, and wand. She closed her eyes and despite the new fear buzzing around her mind, she still managed to drift off to sleep rather quickly.


	2. CHAPTER 2: Discovery

The next morning was clear, and perfect for being outside. Rosa woke up on her own after having a surprisingly good sleep, and she stretched and blinked sleepily, taking a better look at the room in the daylight. She got out of bed and re-equipped her belongings before heading down the stairs and out the door of the inn, deciding that there wasn't anything else for her to do here, and that she should head home, so she started making her way to Magia's hut. She couldn't have prepared herself for what she saw when she walked in, however. The place was an absolute mess, and Magia was nowhere to be found, except for her black hat and flowing black dress in a pile on the floor. Rosa's jaw dropped as she walked around and observed the damage, searching her mind for any explanation, but as she was doing this, she heard a voice.

"Rosa, you idiot! Turn around!"

Rosa almost jumped when she heard this, but she obeyed the voice, since the insult likely meant it belonged to Magia. However, there was nothing behind her, save for a chair.

"Hello? Is anyone there?"

"Yes, someone's here, you dolt! The chair!"

Rosa looked at the chair and nearly fainted when the chair jumped.

"M-Master? Is that your voice?"

"Of course it is! Because you were so late with that bloody Pecha Herb, I started looking for an alternative to use, but I was concentrating so hard that I didn't notice that Gengar walk in and launch an absolute assault on me and the hut!"

Rosa gasped.

"W-What did that Gengar look like?"

"Definitely not like a magic user. He looked more like a… dishevelled traveller."

This confirmed Rosa's suspicions. She explained meeting the Gengar at the bar, and that his name was Grimm.

"Yes, I know his name is Grimm."

Rosa recalled the bartender's story, and how Magia and Grimm had had a falling out in years past. She giggled sheepishly and apologised for not remembering that.

"What was your argument about, anyway? What did he want to destroy the hut over?"

"Many years ago, I was almost finished making a Potion of Absolute Luck, which you should know is an incredibly complex and intricate recipe. I was just about finished when that poor excuse for a Pokemon barged in through the door and tried to attack me. He struck the boiling recipe and it spilled everywhere, effectively reversing my hard work, so I casted a spell that sealed him between dimensions for an indeterminate amount of time."

Rosa nodded slowly, thinking that the story was a bit anticlimactic. Regardless, she continued.

"Hmm… why are you a chair?"

"Well you see, my physical form is dead. When Grimm attacked, he actually killed my body, but at the last second, I transferred my soul into the first thing I saw, which just so happened to be this chair. I'm not going to last forever, though. I should've put my soul into a pot plant or some other living thing instead, but because I'm in this chair, which is an object, my soul will fade away soon, and that'll be the last you ever hear of me."

"Wait, so you're… d-dead?!"

"Mm-hmm. I should actually be fading away pretty soon, so… Rosa, you weren't a horrible apprentice. I know you tried your best, and I know I was tough, but I believe you'll do great things in the future. However, I have one final task for you."

"Anything, master!" Rosa was on her knees at this point, listening as closely as possible.

"Find. And. Eliminate. Grimm…"

Rosa saw something that looked like purple smoke rising out of the chair, and once it was gone, the chair stood still once again. The great witch, Magia, was no more. Rosa didn't know what to feel. She was experiencing a mix of emotions, mostly despair at the loss of her master and only real maternal figure, as well as an odd sense of relief that Magia didn't think she was a failure, after all. However, she was troubled by the final task she was given. How was she to not only find Grimm's hideout, which was joked about for being notoriously hard to locate, but also kill Grimm? Her magical abilities, while present, weren't anywhere near the level of Magia, and if Grimm killed her, who's to say that Rosa wouldn't be his next victim if she found him? As she contemplated this, another thought hit her. If her master was dead, that meant Rosa was to fill the role of master witch now, as Magia's only second-in-command. After some serious thought, she decided that, for Magia, she'd give the task of killing Grimm her best shot. After all, she was technically a master witch now. As she headed out the door clutching her wand nervously, she could feel it surging with some kind of power she hadn't felt before. She disregarded it as her being more attentive and slowly walked down the trail, considering her first move. She eventually decided that maybe she would meet with Sage Celeste, a Gardevoir blessed with the power of limitless knowledge at some point in her life, and ask her about the location of the hideout. She found the base of the short mountain Celeste spent all her time on and began the trek upward.


	3. CHAPTER 3: Wisdom

Rosa climbed cautiously up the mountain trail, trying her absolute best not to look down. The higher she climbed, however, the more she noticed how breathtaking the view over the land was.

"Wow… I wonder if this view is why Sage Celeste spends all her time here."

She was so absorbed in the view that she didn't hear the gentle footsteps of three hooded figures behind her. They were the same robbers from yesterday, and one of them grabbed Rosa by the shoulders and threw her to the ground while the other two searched all over her body for whatever they could get their hands on. One of them pried her wand from her paws, but as they did, the tip of the wand glowed a bright red and badly burned the hand of the robber who took it, causing them to cry out in pain and drop it before telling the others that it wasn't worth robbing her, and the other two followed, since they didn't find anything useful on her, anyway. Rosa sat up and took a few deep breaths to calm herself down, not even noticing she had been hyperventilating for the entire duration of the attempted robbery. She picked up her wand and thought about what it had just done, since other Pokemon with malicious intentions had picked it up before without any repercussions. However, she had a thought back to when she was younger, and one of many Pokemon who attempted to kill Magia had tried to grab her wand from her, but it had burned their hand in a very similar way. Rosa considered the possibility that Magia's death had transferred her powers to her, but she decided she'd think about it later, since she wanted to meet with Sage Celeste.

When Rosa finally reached the top of the mountain, she found Sage Celeste sitting at the edge of the mountaintop and meditating, suspended in the air a few centimetres from the ground. Rosa stood there like an idiot for a while, waiting for her to finish, but Celeste knew she was there.

"Ah, Rosa the Braixen. Just as nervous as ever. Come, don't worry about bothering me."

Rosa yelped in surprise at the sound of her voice, despite its very soft and comforting tone, and slowly stepped over to Celeste, who had turned around, still suspended in the air. Celeste wore simple clothing, a short white tunic, and unlike the rest of her species, she lacked the long natural dress.

"Rosa. What is it you wish to ask me?" Sage Celeste didn't need to ask this, since she already knew what Rosa wanted, but she was being polite. Her calmness was somewhat eerie, and Rosa gulped before speaking.

"Um, yes, I'd like to know where to find the base of Grimm the Sorcerer."

Celeste looked down at her with the same calm smile on her face.

"Did you try looking for it yourself first?"

"W-What?"

"I know what Magia tasked you with before her untimely demise. However, you would not be able to expand on your abilities if I simply told you where Grimm's hideout is."

Rosa was confused, so Sage Celeste continued.

"I understand you have a nervous personality and do not wish to get things wrong, but you cannot expect to have things spoonfed to you. To get you started, I will tell you that Grimm's hideout is somewhere in a nearby kingdom, and as you likely know, it is very well-hidden. I imagine it will take all of your skill, both mentally and socially, to find it."

Rosa stood in place and wondered why a sage with infinite knowledge wouldn't just tell her the location of the hideout.

"Is there anything else you wish to ask me, young one?" Celeste asked, knowing full well Rosa had nothing else to say.

"That's about it, thank you."

"Very well, then. Good luck on your quest, and may you stay safe."

Sage Celeste turned back around and continued to meditate while Rosa began the trek back to the bottom of the mountain. She reached the bottom without much incident, and while replaying what Celeste had said in her mind, she still couldn't figure out why Celeste wouldn't just tell her where the base was. She thought maybe Celeste assumed she had relied on others her whole life, but that was only partially true, since being an apprentice to someone as demanding as Magia required her to do a lot for herself, and for Magia. Rosa thought back to before she became an apprentice, however, and realised that she could recall a number of times where she relied on others to defend her and whatnot, and she considered the possibility that Celeste wanted her to gather hints as to the location of the base on her own. With this realisation, she set off to the market town she had been in earlier to ask around and gather more information as to where to go.


	4. CHAPTER 4: Encounter

"Excuse me?... Hello?... Sorry… Do you know where-..."

Rosa was not having any luck asking people at the market town for information. Everyone either swore at her or steered clear of her, again due to her attire. Rosa continued down the street, which was as busy as ever, but not a single Pokemon gave her a normal answer. One Ampharos even stopped for a minute to berate her for wearing clothing associating her with Magia, who he noted was killed recently, as Rosa already knew. After receiving insult after insult, she was just about ready to cry and almost gave up searching when she came across a lone Lucario seated on a bench by one of the stalls. This Lucario was wearing some kind of leather armour, and attached to the belt was what appeared to be a glowing blue whip. He appeared to be saddened by something, so Rosa, in an uncharacteristically social manner, sat beside him on the bench and asked what was wrong.

"It's a bit of a story. It's probably not worth your time."

"I'm not in a rush to do anything, you can tell me."

The Lucario stared into the sky for a few seconds before sighing.

"Well, I'm part of a long line of ghost hunters. Every one of my ancestors before me contributed to the world of ghost and monster killing in some way. My father killed a Dusknoir in another land, my grandfather slayed a vampire Swoobat, you get the idea. I was preparing for my contribution to be the greatest - killing the notoriously hard to kill Magia the Great."

Rosa could tell where he was going as soon as he said the name, and her understanding expression faltered a little.

"But, word spread this morning that she was already dead before I could even find her hiding spot."

Rosa cocked her head to the side without saying anything. Her and Magia's hut was not that hard to locate, simply being off the beaten path in a rural location away from this town. She didn't mention this, however. Instead, she asked him what his name was.

"Hm? Oh, it's Auro. Auro the Lucario. But you probably won't need to know that, since history books won't need to record me."

He sighed deeply again and stared at the ground, while Rosa seemed to think he was being a little dramatic. Regardless, she introduced herself, similarly to him.

"I'm Rosa the Braixen, and let's just say I knew Magia."

Auro snapped to attention as soon as she said this.

"Knew her? How so?"

"Well, I, um… I'm- well, was, her apprentice."

Auro stared her up and down with his piercing red eyes, making Rosa shuffle away from him on the bench a little.

"That explains the funny getup, then."

He continued to stare at her, and Rosa decided that she was wasting time, and that she needed to ask him the question she'd approached him for.

"Well, I'm sorry that you're feeling down, but would you happen to know where the hideout of Grimm the Ge-"

"Why would I help someone associated with someone as evil as Magia?" Auro snapped, interrupting Rosa. She stammered out a feeble response before slowly getting up and walking away. However, just before she could leave, Auro grabbed her by her tail and pulled her back.

"If I couldn't kill Magia, then I guess killing her only companion is good enough for me."

Rosa's whole body trembled as Auro continued holding onto her tail, pulling out his blue, aura-charged whip and preparing to strike. Rosa fumbled for her wand and shot a weak attack at him, but it was enough to get him to let go. People had moved out of their way at this point, though no-one really stuck around to watch the fight since they all seemingly had places to be. Auro stood confidently in a battle stance, brandishing his whip threateningly, while Rosa stood in place, standing pigeon-toed and trembling while clutching her wand in front of her chest with both paws, waiting for the inevitable pain. Auro dashed towards her and swung his whip at her, and she reflexively held her wand up in front of her face in a defensive manner. Unbeknownst to her, however, the wand had produced a rectangular shield of light that had blocked the whip strike, and when she opened one of her eyes, she was surprised to not be hurt. Auro seemed to have been stunned by the surprise of her light shield, and she took the opportunity to steady herself and cast a few magical fireballs in his direction, some of them making contact. Auro snapped out of it and pulled out what looked like a small glass bottle of water, confusing Rosa until he threw it at the ground in front of her and it burst into flame, causing her to jump back in surprise. In response, she pulled out a glass bottle of her own from her hidden potion belt and threw it at Auro, making direct contact and apparently getting a glass shard in his eye. He pulled his whip out and jumped before striking Rosa in the air, and this hit connected because she was busy telling herself that she was doing a good job with the fight so far. After this, Auro and Rosa stood and stared at each other, both of them panting a little, and Rosa decided that she just wanted to end the fight so she could get moving, so she held her wand behind her back and secretly began charging another fire attack, and Auro, not realising, slowly stepped towards her, wielding his whip menacingly. As soon as he got close enough, however, Rosa fired the spell and Auro was thrown to the wall behind him, sliding down and slumping on the ground. Rosa didn't walk towards him at first, but after a few seconds, he didn't stand up, and she walked over to him and asked if he was okay, merely getting a grunt in response.

"N-Now can you help me find Grimm's base?"

"...fine. I don't even know why you want him dead so bad anyway, but fine. All I know is that his base is in a kingdom nearby. Leave me alone now."

Rosa all too happily obliged, leaving the town and heading along another rural road that eventually lead to a mountainside with a cave. Looking around for any other means of reaching the neighbouring kingdom, she concluded that the cave seemed to be the only way through, and she reluctantly stepped in and began slowly stumbling through the cave.

After what seemed like an hour, Rosa realised that certain parts of the cave looked very similar to each other. It was then that she realised she was lost. When she noticed, she began to panic, her mind immediately picturing her untimely death in the tunnels of this cave, and she started hyperventilating again, taking a seat on the floor to try and calm herself. After she had taken a few deep breaths, she began trying to rationalise the situation with herself.

"Okay. Which way did I come from?"

She looked all around her, but every part of the cave looked the same. She groaned and slumped over where she was sitting, but that's when her wand started surging with the power she had felt earlier. She took it out and observed it, and noticed that it felt somewhat warm. Standing up and walking towards one of the tunnels, she felt the wand get colder, so figuring out what it was doing, she walked wherever the wand got warmer, and sure enough, she saw light in no time.

"How did it do that?" she heard herself asking no-one in particular. She looked at the wand for a little bit before putting it away and setting off into this new kingdom, the question still on her mind, but also feeling a new sense of curiosity at the sight of the land in front of her.


	5. CHAPTER 5: Imprisoned

The grass crunched under Rosa's boots as she walked through the new kingdom. Despite being an unkempt area that belonged to nobody, the plants and trees seemed fresh and full of life. She looked around as she went, seeing mountains, a coastline, seemingly endless green plains, and most notably, what appeared to be castle walls in the distance. It was much more scenic than Rosa's home kingdom, and it was the first time she felt properly relaxed on her journey so far.

"Maybe I'll try asking for help in that castle town."

She approached the castle wall, which, up close, looked pristine, with barely any cracks in sight, and only a little bit of moss near the ground, which made sense. She followed the wall trying to find an entrance, and eventually, she found it. She would've walked right in if it wasn't for the two guards stationed at either side of the entrance, one being an Escavalier and the other being a Bisharp, and both in even heavier armour than normal, wielding axes.

"State your business!" boomed the Bisharp guard, looking down coldly at Rosa.

"Um, well, I'd like to, uh… enter the town. I'm a visitor, I suppose?"

"Well, we can't just let anyone in. Just look at what you're wearing! You could be a powerful witch hellbent on screwing our town over!" the Escavalier growled.

Rosa glanced down at her witch attire and realised that it was probably not the best time to be holding onto her wand.

"I'm not, I swear! Just let me in, please!" Rosa pleaded, hastily putting her wand away and clasping her paws together.

"Begging is for the Princess's servants. Begone, pest. Cause mischief elsewhere" Bisharp concluded, and he and the Escavalier placed their axes in an X-shape, blocking the castle entrance. Rosa lowered the brim of her witch hat, turned around, and shuffled away, slouching over. Maybe it wasn't worth her time, anyway. However, just as she was leaving, she heard one of the guards mutter something to the other.

"She looks puny. Probably couldn't defend herself if she tried. What's someone like that doing with a powerful wand?"

The other laughed in response, and Rosa froze in her tracks, snapping upright. She was used to being insulted by Magia, but hearing similar insults from someone else sent an odd wave of anger through her. She turned around and strode back over to the guards, but she froze when she got in front of them, evidently not having thought of what she planned on doing next.

"What? We told you to get lost!" Escavalier snarled, pointing his axe at Rosa. She continued to stand in place for a moment before whipping out her wand without thinking and firing a random spell at him, which turned out to be a tiny burst of light that didn't do much aside from make him flinch. Both him and Bisharp turned to face her, and Rosa immediately realised she had made a mistake. She began to apologise profusely and back away from the guards, but Bisharp hit her over the head hard with the handle of his axe, knocking her out instantly. Escavalier picked her up and carried her into the town, while Bisharp stayed at his post, waiting for his companion to return.

When Rosa regained consciousness, she found herself staring at a stony ceiling, surrounded by cold air. She sat up and realised she had been laying down on a thin, worn-out mattress, with an even thinner, scratchy blanket over her legs. It then hit her that the walls around her were made of cracked grey bricks, and looked much worse than the castle walls. She finally realised she had been thrown in prison. Patting herself down, she noticed that her wand had unsurprisingly been confiscated, but the potion belt under her dress was still there.

"Maybe that was a bad idea." Rosa told herself before standing up and taking a closer look at the cell she was in. She became aware of the dripping of something she hoped was water from the ceiling and onto the floor in a corner, as well as a dirty bucket that she assumed was her toilet. She stepped over to the bars keeping her locked in, and across from her cell was nothing but a wall. Perhaps other prisoners resided in cells next to hers that she couldn't see. She walked away from the bars and to the small, barred window at the back of the cell, noticing that her footsteps echoed rather loudly on the cold stone floors. Staring out the barred window, she was able to see the pristine landscape that she had just been walking on a little while ago, and she sighed, wondering what was going to happen to her next. She began seriously considering her actions and how her anger somehow got the better of her, at a bad time, too. Deciding she didn't want to stick around the dingy cell any longer, she began looking for a way out. She scanned the walls, the floor, and even lifted the disgusting bucket, but found nothing, and she was ready to give up until she remembered the mattress. She went over to it and lifted it up, and sure enough, the ground beneath it was conveniently cracked. Looking around to make sure the coast was clear, she took a potion from her belt and tossed it at the cracked floor, causing it to explode on contact, and opening a tunnel. Rosa gulped and decided to just go wherever it lead, so she fell to the ground and crawled inside, trying not to get dirty despite it being inevitable. It was a bit of a tight fit, and Rosa had to hold onto her hat because it kept falling off from the low ceiling, but she eventually saw light in the distance and scrambled towards it, popping out and breathing fresh air. Putting her hat back onto her head, she realised that she had forgotten to retrieve her wand. She climbed out of the hole and realised she was still within the castle walls, despite how long the tunnel seemed. As she stared at the gate and the guards in front of it in the distance, she could faintly see something flying towards her from inside the prison. Before she could comprehend it, though, it hit her in the face. Bending over to pick it up, she was shocked to see that it was her wand. This was the second or third unintentional thing she'd done with it, but she had no time to sit and contemplate it, as she had to get out of the town unnoticed. She decided that she'd try to slip into a crowd and out the gate that way, but as soon as she peeked out at the street, she saw wanted posters everywhere - with her face on them. Apparently she was wanted for plotting mischief against the town, and it was from the posters that she found out that she was to be burned at the stake if caught, with a massive reward of 10,000G. She gasped silently to herself and realised she had to be careful, so she removed her witch hat and slipped it down the front of her dress to hide it, in an attempt to make her appearance less obvious. She then found a group of Pokemon and tagged along with them, being sure to stay absolutely silent and keep her face mostly covered by her paws. She had almost made it out when the group took a sharp left and went down an alleyway instead of outside of the town, leaving her completely exposed, right behind the guards. Hastily, she tried to scurry down another alleyway and try again, but that's when a Simisear dressed in poor clothing noticed her, and when he did, his expression lifted.

"AW YEAH, I FOUND THE WITCH! TIME TO GET ME THAT BOUNTY!"

All his yelling made Rosa cringe with fear, and it drew attention to her. Everyone on the street was staring at her with murder in their eyes, and a crowd slowly began closing in on her, loudly discussing what they all wanted to do with the bounty. Pretty soon, they were all close enough to easily grab her, and that's when her wand started vibrating violently. She had no idea what the problem was until she could only see white and she felt like she was being forcefully pulled from behind. When she regained her vision, she was on her knees, but everyone was gone. She also noticed that she was back on grass. Standing up and looking around her, she found herself surrounded by trees, with the castle wall visible only in the distance. Again, she looked at her wand, and pieces started to fall in place in her mind. Everything that just accidentally occurred was stuff Magia could do on command, but Rosa couldn't before. She tried teleporting a metre away to test it out again, and she could do it, but when she tried to teleport a greater distance, she couldn't. Concluding that she just didn't have the level of skill that Magia had quite yet, she took her hat out from the front of her dress, put it on, and turned her back on the castle town, heading deeper into the forest.


	6. CHAPTER 6: Relaxation

The deeper Rosa went into the forest, the taller the grass became, and it was hard to wade through. She also found several bones and even decaying bodies as she went, which shocked her further. Eventually, after about an hour of this, Rosa came across a clearing with a small shack just in sight. Behind the shack, a fenced-off area was visible with what looked like steam rising from it. Curious, Rosa entered it, noticing that the door nearly fell off its hinges as she pulled it open and shut it. Glancing around the shack, Rosa saw what looked to be empty photo frames on the walls, and a scruffy Tangrowth in a robe slept behind a shoddily-made counter. Rosa didn't want to wake him up, but as she walked over to the other side of the room, the Tangrowth heard her footsteps and woke up anyway.

"Mmm… a customer, finally?"

"Customer? What is this place?"

"It's a hot spring. Wanna spend some time unwinding?"

Rosa realised the steam rising out of the back was likely the hot spring pool. She didn't feel comfortable essentially taking a bath in someone's backyard, but at the same time, she was feeling very tense, and thought the relaxation might do her good.

"Hm… okay, sure. How much is it?"

"Normally it's 20G, but you're the first Pokemon to enter this place in a year, so I'll make it 10."

Rosa liked the sound of this. It was definitely more affordable than the Pecha Herb that got her into this mess in the first place. She forked over the ten gold pieces and the Tangrowth gave her a surprisingly clean towel, and she headed through another rickety door that lead to the pool in the back. Much to her relief, the wooden fence seemed tall enough to conceal her from possible outsiders, so she stripped down to her bare fur before placing her things where she could see them and stepping into the hot spring. It was like her prior worries had been lifted right off her. Her muscles relaxed, and Rosa started almost immediately drifting off into the most refreshing sleep she'd had in years. When she woke up again, she didn't know how long it had been, and she noticed that her arm was resting against something uncomfortable on the wall of the pool. She pushed it in, and much to her surprise, it clicked into place in the wall, and she thought that was the end of it until she heard the wall at the other end of the pool rumbling. She couldn't quite see what was happening due to the steam from the pool, so she stuck her head underwater and found out that there was now a tunnel in the wall at the other end. Ordinarily, she would've just left it and kept relaxing, but in her new calm state, she saw no problem with going inside. It was another tight fit, and her tail nearly got stuck on a rock, but she swam through and when she emerged, she found herself in a massive cavern. The floor had pools of water as warm as the hot spring, and the walls were all lined with crystals of all different colours. Rosa was in awe at the sight, and she slowly walked through the cave marvelling at everything. Somehow, a breeze was rushing through the cave, and it made Rosa shiver and remember she was not clothed. She decided that she'd look a little longer and go back to relaxing in the pool when she noticed a brown figure dressed in green at the end of the cave, hunched over something. She walked carefully and as silently as she could over to them, but she slipped and nearly fell into a puddle of water on the floor. However, the sound of her paw hitting the water made the figure at the end of the tunnel straighten up. Rosa tried to hide behind a convenient stalagmite on the ground as the figure, which turned out to be a Beheeyem in a green cap and tunic, turned around and scanned what he thought was an empty landscape. Rosa didn't know why she was hiding, but she was anyway. Maybe the Beheeyem was dangerous. When he turned around, she re-emerged from behind the stalagmite and decided that she'd just leave the cave, since it didn't seem like there was much to do there. In her rush to get out unnoticed, though, she ended up actually tripping over and falling flat on her face. This made the Beheeyem turn back around and notice her.

"Who's there?"

He flashed his finger lights in an oddly threatening combination while looking at Rosa in the distance. He could only really see her tail, so he didn't really know who she was until she stood up and turned around. As soon as she did, the Beheeyem's eyes fell to her chest, and she crossed her arms, blushing furiously.

"Who're you?" he said, his gaze shifting back to Rosa's face.

"Um… R-Rosa… the Braixen." It was hard for her to talk when the breeze against her wet fur was making her shiver, and with the Beheeyem eyeing her down.

"I'm Kris. You're fucking hot."

Rosa was completely taken aback with this sudden compliment, but shyly stuttered out a word of thanks before hastily changing the topic.

"So, um… what are you doing in here?"

"Looking for treasure. That's what I do - I'm just an adventurer. How'd you wind up here, with… such a nice outfit?"

"Oh, heh… I was just in a hot spring, and I found a switch or something that opened up a passage leading to this cavern."

"A hot spring, huh? That explains why you're so wet."

"If you didn't know about the hot spring, then how did you get in here?"

Kris stared blankly at Rosa.

"The cave entrance. Literally right over there."

He pointed to an opening in the cave wall to his right, and sure enough, the ground sloped upward to reveal light, suggesting an opening. This explained the breeze. Rosa felt a bit like an idiot when she realised this, but it wasn't much of a concern.

"Well, that was a nice chat, but it looks like there's no treasure here." Kris said. "I've tried prying the crystals off the walls, believe me, but it can't be done. Welp, see ya later, Rosa!"

And with that, Kris blinked his finger lights some more, and he disappeared. Rosa thought he seemed like an odd (and mildly creepy) character, but before she turned around to leave, she spotted something on the ground where Kris had just been. It was a small scrap of paper with some nondescript lines drawn with what looked like an orange crayon. It didn't seem too important, but Rosa stashed it away in her tail for safekeeping, anyway. She started to leave through the cave opening that Kris had informed her about, but she remembered that her belongings were still at the hot spring, so she instead left the cavern back the way she came. When she resurfaced, she was pleased to see her belongings still in place, and she decided to leave, so she dried herself off with the towel before getting dressed again and leaving the hot spring, ready to set off in search of any other civilisation.


	7. CHAPTER 7: Meeting

Rosa trudged through the dark forest for another hour. The hot spring had refreshed her, but she was now getting tired again from weaving through thin gaps in trees and wading through tall grass. She even almost got stuck in a giant cobweb at one point, as well as finding more dead bodies in progressively worse states of decay. She was so focused on not stepping on the skull of some poor soul that she didn't notice when the forest ended and she had bumped right into a fence that seemed to be in a state of disrepair. As she did with the castle wall from earlier, she followed the fence until she reached what appeared to be the entrance, though unlike the castle, there were no guards to be found blocking her way in. Rosa stepped cautiously into the town, thoroughly expecting to be jumped and robbed like on the mountain, but it never happened. In fact, the whole town looked to be completely empty. This lifeless, eerie atmosphere put Rosa on edge, and she kept her wand in her paws and her guard up as she crept down the destroyed stone-paved roads, observing the wooden houses that appeared to have been burned in what she could only assume was a raid of some kind. A strong wind blew through the streets, which caused some of the doors and windows to rattle and made her tense up even further. After walking through the town for about half an hour, it began getting dark, and she had approached what appeared to be a cemetery. Deciding that no-one was here, and the most tense and suspenseful she'd ever felt in her life, Rosa backed out of the cemetery, not daring to set foot in there. However, just as she was about to turn around and leave the town, she was grabbed very suddenly and forcefully by the shoulders, and she heard the most terrifyingly vicious and bloodthirsty screech in her life right in her ears. Her muscles relaxed, but she was frozen with shock, and her knees buckled, almost making her collapse from the fear. Rosa remained like this for a few seconds until the feeling of something distinctly warm running down her leg brought her back to reality. Turning around and very shakily arming herself, she was not so pleased to find out that her attacker was Kris, who was laughing hysterically.

"You should've seen your face!" he cried, clapping his hands. "MAN, that was priceless!"

He continued to laugh and carry on while Rosa stood there feeling embarrassed with her reaction. Unintentionally, but fortunately for her, her wand glowed in her paws, and the contents of her bladder had disappeared from her legs and the ground around her. Kris eventually calmed down and started talking normally again.

"So, what brings you here?"

"Well, I'm on the hunt for, um, Grimm the sorcerer."

"Really, now? Why's that?"

Rosa saw no reason to lie to someone like Kris (though her judgement was rather loose), so she explained her whole journey up to that point, including her prior apprenticeship with Magia, and her dying wish. Kris surprisingly listened rather patiently and was rather engrossed in her story, but this was likely because he didn't know who Magia was. Once Rosa was finished, Kris spoke again.

"You know, I've seen Grimm before."

"W-What? Really?"

"Yeah. Walked right past me as I hid in a bush."

Kris snorted at his own joke as Rosa adopted a displeased expression.

"Anyway, I'm not fucking with someone that has magic like he does. You look like you could learn a thing or two from him, though."

"Are you insulting my magical ability?"

"What was your first clue? Well, if you really want to go find him, I drew a map to where I vaguely think his hideout might be."

Kris pulled a piece of paper out from inside his green cap and spread it out against the floor. Rosa knelt down to take a closer look at it.

"...is that the complete map?"

"What the heck?! How did I lose two pieces?"

Rosa suddenly remembered the scrap of paper he had left behind when he teleported away from the earlier cavern. She pulled it out of her tail and joined it with the piece Kris had. However, there was still one piece missing.

"Damn. The missing piece is the one with Grimm's actual hideout."

Rosa stared blankly at the paper. Kris's scribbles on the page barely looked legible, anyway.

"What's all this mean?"

Kris took the two scraps of paper and observed them up close.

"...I forgot."

Rosa slipped out of her kneeling position and slumped on the ground.

"Well, that was a waste of my time. The whole journey's been completely fruitless up to this point."

For a few seconds, Kris considered these words, especially in regards to Rosa's personality. She observed that as he thought, his finger lights blinked slowly, and in different patterns.

"You know what your problem might be?"

Rosa stood up from the ground, and Kris followed suit. She was planning on leaving soon, anyway.

"What's that?" she queried, eyeing him curiously.

"You're way too submissive, even from the little I've talked to you. You probably asked the townspeople as sweetly as possible, and they gave you nothing because they apparently hate witches or whatever."

"How else am I meant to ask them?"

"Use a little of that wand magic!" Kris pointed to the wand Rosa was clutching. "You think everyone's threatened by you, then make them feel threatened!"  
"Wouldn't I just be proving their point?"

"Who cares about that? You want to fulfil your master's dying wish, right? Why should Pokemon stand in your way? You have the power."

As absurd as Kris was being, Rosa did have to admit she was getting a little bit sick of being treated poorly just because of her status. She was pretty much an outcast, and the concept of threatening people to do her bidding with magic was rather enticing. However, she was nowhere near confident enough to make this a reality. Besides, she realised that kind of thing was exactly why Magia came to be so despised.

"A-Are you sure I could do it?"

"Yeah, I bet you could. In fact, why not try right now?"  
"NOW?!" Rosa gasped. "I haven't mentally prepared myself yet!"

"You know who you should try first? Princess Lotus."

"Um… who's that?"

"Princess of this kingdom. She lives in that town back there."

Kris gestured behind Rosa, and she turned and saw the town where she was locked up in the distance.

"Why would I go after the princess, specifically?"

"Well, she's the ruler. I'm sure she'd have a lot of knowledge about what goes on in her kingdom."

Rosa seriously considered this. Getting information out of a royal source seemed like it could work out. The only issue would be entering the castle itself, since she imagined it would be heavily guarded.

"...I'll do it."

Kris gave Rosa a quick but reassuring pat on the back. She flinched, but was initially surprised to find out he wasn't about to quickly go for her rear end or something. That is, until he did exactly that before pulling away and teleporting out of there chuckling. With Kris gone, Rosa was once again alone, again thinking of the consequences of infiltrating a castle.


	8. CHAPTER 8: Infiltration

After her chat with Kris, Rosa, filled with confidence, decided to just go for the idea of using magic to gain information out of others. She attempted to teleport as far as she could to reach the castle town, but she only managed to reappear halfway there before feeling nauseous, and she decided to just walk the rest of the way. By this point, the sun had set completely, and it was pitch-black, so Rosa had to use her wand as a torch. No-one was out at this hour, but Rosa was as silent as possible in traversing the final stretch before reaching the back of the castle walls, where the castle itself was. She made her slow and cautious approach to the back wall and, after taking a breather, she teleported through the wall and started climbing up to the top of the castle using window sills and bricks, where she assumed the supposed Princess Lotus would reside. It took her a while, since she wasn't the most physically capable, but she eventually made it up and climbed through the window into an extravagant bedroom, confirming her suspicions that the princess resided here. She hid behind a dresser drawer and waited for a little while until she heard the door open and shut. At this moment, Rosa began to regret her choice, but realised it was too late to back out. She pulled out her wand and jumped out from behind the dresser drawer with it pointed at Princess Lotus, who turned out to be a Lilligant that was dressed in a royal, dark green nightgown with a leaf-like pattern on it. Rosa also noted that instead of a bulb, this Lilligant had legs for some reason that resembled a Gardevoir's.

"S-S-Start t-talking! N-Now!"

Rosa's stuttering caused her to not seem that threatening, but the surprise of her being there caused Princess Lotus to drop the tray she was holding to the floor, shattering a teapot and a teacup.

"W-What is the meaning of this?! Guards!" Lotus called, obviously trembling. The guards did not hear her calls, and Rosa, without thinking, strode over to her and grabbed her by the back of her head, pointing her wand as close as she could to her chin.

"G-Grimm's hideout. Tell me where it is before I b-blow your pretty f-face off."

Lotus still wasn't talking, and opened her mouth to call for her guards again when Rosa began to charge a flame attack from her wand.

"Y-You think I'm j-joking?! Watch this!"

She charged her attack more and brought Lotus's face even closer to the wand. For a second, Lotus's body relaxed before a whimper escaped her mouth.

"Ohhh, f-fine, you criminal!"

Rosa let go of her and she walked over to her four-poster bed, taking a seat. The room was many shades of green, and Rosa saw that where Lotus was standing, there appeared to be a puddle that she highly doubted was spilt tea.

"Talk." Rosa commanded, her wand still pointed at Lotus, though at a distance now. All of this was very much unlike her, but she was rather enjoying the adrenaline rush this was giving her. No wonder Magia did this so often, she thought.

"Well... the hideout you want… Grimm's... it's in my kingdom."

"Where?"

Rosa brought the wand closer again.

"The mountains, the mountains! I just haven't told anyone about it because there'd be mass panic! I don't know specifically where, I swear!"

Princess Lotus seemed like she was on the verge of tears, so Rosa lowered her wand. Despite her roughness, she wasn't planning on mentally scarring Lotus.

"Okay. Thank you for your time."

Rosa lowered her wand and backed off, her arm trembling from the adrenaline surging through her. She quickly said goodbye to Lotus before climbing back out the window and descending to the ground, leaving her thoroughly scared and confused. Once she was at the bottom, she again teleported through the wall and looked around her for the direction of the mountains, which turned out to be to her left, or the kingdom's south. It was a bit of a while away, but Rosa was filled with a new-found confidence that wouldn't let her rest.

As Rosa trudged through the fields leading to the mountains, she did feel somewhat remorseful for terrorising Princess Lotus, but at the same time, she was oddly proud of herself that she was able to overcome her anxiety and get information like this. She knew it was wrong, but it was weirdly satisfying to her. She started to realise that the possession of a wand and the knowledge of even a few spells was enough for her to do almost anything she wanted, just as Magia had done before her. She was contemplating these dark thoughts intently, so much so that she didn't notice that she was being followed the whole time. A dark figure was slowly following her, waiting for a perfect moment to strike, and their intentions were definitely malicious. Just as Rosa had her guard down, she was placed into a headlock by the figure, and a knife was held against her throat. Turning her head around very carefully, she saw that the figure had turned out to be a Weavile dressed entirely in black clothing - a short dress, stockings, and boots, with a belt that held an assortment of knives and other weapons. Even her feathers looked like a darker shade of red than normal.

"Wha… who are you?" Rosa managed to choke out. An arm and a knife against her neck didn't make it easy.

"Aw, I'm the last person you're gonna meet before you die? What an honour." the Weavile said sarcastically, flashing a grin that showed razor-sharp teeth. "Well, I guess I can tell you who I am. The name's Sylvia, and I was hired by Princess Lotus to eliminate one specific Braixen that apparently threatened her with violence for information! Absolutely disgusting behaviour, I'd say."

Rosa quivered with fear again. Clearly, it turned out violence wasn't always the answer… or maybe it was.

"So, fox-girl? Any last words before I turn you into a new kind of meat?"

Rosa couldn't reach her wand, since she had absent-mindedly stashed it in her tail for some reason. Instead, she discreetly took a potion from the belt under her dress and, after waiting a few seconds, very suddenly threw it over her shoulder and into Sylvia's face. The potion turned out to have toxic properties, and Sylvia dropped the knife and began coughing. Rosa took the chance to escape her grasp and arm herself with her wand. Sylvia wasn't an idiot, however, and knew she wouldn't stand a chance against a witch with ranged attacks, especially not while she was weakened. Instead, she called for a name Rosa very specifically remembered:

"AURO! GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE!"

"Can I help you?"

Rosa heard heavy footsteps and the clanking of armour, and sure enough, the Lucario she had met and fought back at the market town was in her presence, with another layer or two of armour to protect him, likely after their fight.

"The bitch poisoned me, and I need to find an antidote. Take care of her, please. Don't hold back."

Auro obliged, throwing a sack he was holding onto the floor and pulling out his familiar aura-infused whip, while Sylvia went over to the sack and began searching it. Unlike last time, Rosa was confident and ready. She recalled coming out as the victor of their last fight, and she had a bit more control over her wand and her spells than last time. Starting the fight off, Rosa concentrated hard and cast a shield spell she remembered Magia using once, to improve her defense at least a little bit. Auro seemingly didn't notice this and launched his whip at her, which struck Rosa, but the shield spell had reduced the damage, and she retaliated with a flame spell of her own that burned Auro a bit. His armour greatly reduced the effect, however, and Rosa decided she needed to find a way to remove his armour. As she observed him, she only just realised that he had thrown what looked to be a cross at her, and she dove out of the way as she watched it narrowly miss her and return to him like a boomerang. At this time, Rosa's wand began to vibrate again, and she clutched it in her paws once again, wondering what it might do this time. It shot out a purple beam that surrounded Auro, and he began to fight against some kind of restrictive force, or it seemed restrictive until his outer layer of armour suddenly broke open and fell onto the grass with a resounding clunk.

"What the - that shouldn't be allowed!" Auro snarled, again whipping at Rosa. With a layer of armour removed, she cast an electric spell at him, which shocked him briefly, but effectively. As he was attempting to recover from the shock, Rosa tried casting that spell of telekinesis again, and she did. She was unable to remove the second layer of armour, but she did hold him in place while she hunted for another potion from her belt and toss it in his face, causing an explosion.

"Auro, my man, you can't lose this. I won't pay you otherwise." Sylvia called from the sidelines, in a very non-reassuring manner, and essentially informing Rosa as to why he was fighting for her. She didn't have time to ponder this, however, as Auro lobbed a similar glass bottle to the one he had used in their previous fight, and the flames it produced upon contact with the ground seared the tip of Rosa's tail as she very swiftly sidestepped it. Proud of her dodge, she was promptly whipped across the face. She utilised a fireball attack on Auro, but gasped when she noticed him pull out an axe and throw it in an upwards arc at her. In a reflexive movement, she recoiled and pointed her wand upwards. The wand shot out the telekinesis beam, which grabbed hold of the axe, and when Rosa realised this, she used the spell to toss the axe back at Auro, hitting the front of his second layer of armour and cracking it open. It hit the ground, and Auro was barely defended, simply wearing an undershirt and shorts under the armour.

"That's it. I'm out of here."

"Alright, then, no pay for you."

Auro and Sylvia took off, taking their sack of items, but just before they left, Sylvia turned and made an eyes-on-you gesture to Rosa. She had won again, and even picked up a new skill, so she proudly continued her trek towards the mountains, which she noticed were now very close by.


	9. CHAPTER 9: Trek

The base of the mountain range was in sight. Looking up at it, Rosa saw that not only were they incredibly tall and rugged, but she could also see snow, which might make the journey more difficult than it needed to be. Regardless, she started climbing up the trail. She noticed that it was hard to keep a stable footing, since pieces of the ground kept falling off and into the abyss wherever she stood. Nearly tripping over a few times on her initial ascent, Rosa made it to a small plateau before another upward climb. She found a cave here, and she quickly ducked inside and recuperated. As she was doing this, she spotted someone familiar climbing the trail she had just used. It was Kris.

"Rosa! You didn't wait up for me!"

"I didn't know you were climbing the mountain, too."

Kris entered the cave and met up with Rosa. Almost as soon as he did, the two of them heard the already wild winds outside pick up, and a snowstorm began.

"Well, that's not convenient. Anyway, how's the little witch?"

"I'm okay. I was forced to fight Auro the Lucario again, and I was almost assassinated by a Weavile."

"Fun. What about the princess?"

Rosa suddenly recalled her encounter with Princess Lotus. The fight with Auro had pushed it out of her mind.

"I got what I needed out of her." she replied. "It wasn't as hard as I thought it was at first, but I guess she didn't like it after all, and hired an assassin to go after me."

The two of them sat in silence for a little, watching the snowstorm outside.

"You hungry, Rosa?"

"Huh?"

Kris pulled out what looked like a can of baked beans and cracked it open. Rosa was indeed hungry, since it was a while since she'd eaten a proper meal, but she decided to pass on the offer as she watched Kris attempt to put a spoon into the frozen beans. Rosa used her wand to create a small fire in front of them, allowing him to unfreeze his precious beans and eat them. They sat for a bit longer, and Rosa even considered taking a nap, when they heard something behind them. Just as Rosa turned around, she was placed in another headlock, and she didn't have to turn around any further to find out it was Sylvia.

"None of my victims escape me. NONE of them. You got that?"

Rosa groped around for her wand or her potions, but Sylvia knew to restrain her arms, too, preventing her from reaching them. However, Kris definitely noticed what was happening. Sylvia pulled a meat cleaver from her belt and, without warning, began hacking away at Rosa's neck. A lot of blood was spilt as Rosa screamed in pain, but Kris acted fast. He thought for a second, then began blinking his finger lights in quick, random patterns in Sylvia's face. At first she attempted to swat his arm away, calling the lights annoying, but suddenly, her eyes widened. She could not take her eyes off of the lights despite her best efforts, and she became nauseous and vomited on the ground near Rosa before dropping the meat cleaver and hobbling off, muttering nonsensical strings of obscene language. Seemed like she knew when to give up, at least for then.

"She gives up fast, huh?" quipped Kris, before seeing that Rosa's condition was serious. He did not know what to do, but Rosa held up one of her paws and delivered a makeshift thumbs-up to signify that she was supposedly okay, despite blood pouring from her neck. She didn't seem to mind too much, however, and Kris didn't understand her apathy towards her injury until she grabbed her wand and ran it along the wound, and in a matter of seconds, it had sealed itself shut and she sat up as if she had simply had a nap.

"Huh, where'd you learn that?"

"I might not know a lot of magic, but Magia taught me that specific trick a long time ago. I've never had to use it until now."

Rosa thanked Kris for saving her before standing up and observing the scene around her. She had sealed her wound, but she was still surrounded by blood, and the puddle of Sylvia's vomit was already freezing over. She decided that now was a good time to get moving despite the snowstorm that was still raging outside.

"Are you going to join me, Kris?" Rosa inquired, looking at him.

"Nah. I'm gonna see if there's any treasure in this cave." he answered, looking past her and into the dark depths of the cavern. "Good luck with killing Grimm, and if you don't die, then come find me."

"That's reassuring."

Kris and Rosa shook hands before parting ways. As soon as Rosa stepped foot outside of the cave, she was blasted with snow, but she thought it was better than risking another attack from Sylvia. She used a quick shield spell to try and keep most of the snow off of her, and she also used a spell that produced a small flame from the tip of her wand, allowing her to stay warm, since despite having fur, the cold pierced through it, and it wasn't like she was dressed for the cold, either. Rosa slogged through the snow, which was piling high at this point, as she glanced around and tried to find any sign of a potential place for Grimm's hideout. Rosa didn't realise it, but Kris's absence made her feel somewhat alone, listening to the sounds of the howling wind, her footsteps in the snow, and her own thoughts. Regardless, she pushed on, determined to fulfil Magia's dying wish. She was so close. As she walked, she began to contemplate her journey up until that point. She had gotten herself into some real shenanigans so far, such as winning two fights, threatening someone for information, and getting arrested. Rosa felt like she had developed quite a bit since she first set out to locate that Pecha Herb, specifically recalling hiding under the counter of the bar as Grimm attempted to attack her. Proud of herself, she pressed onwards.

After two hours of searching, her previous optimism had declined. Rosa was nowhere near close to finding out where Grimm's hideout could be, and she was incredibly close to giving up, since the snowstorm had only gotten worse since she started searching, and she was beginning to get tired. She accidentally kicked a boulder hidden under the snow as she trudged through, and she swept snow off of it and took a seat on it to recuperate and take deep breaths that shook with aggravation.

"How am I this incompetent? I've come all this way, and I can't find the base." she grumbled as she placed her head in her paws, sighing deeply. As she continued to chastise herself, she didn't notice the sound of sparkles forming some kind of apparition in front of her.

"Rosa. Look at me." spoke a voice, in a familiarly soothing tone. She begrudgingly obliged, but was surprised to see who was standing before her.

"S-Sage Celeste!"

"Correct." She smiled her warm smile, and Rosa immediately felt better about herself, despite no further exchange taking place yet. "You have come very far since you first met with me a few days ago, both physically and mentally. You have improved your independence quite a bit, and I am happy to see that."

"Yes, but that's about where it ends for me…" Rosa lamented, putting her head down again.

"Are you still having trouble locating the base? That is quite okay. The fact that you have come this close is enough of an accomplishment. That is why I am willing to guide you the rest of the way there."

Rosa's face brightened at the sound of this.

"Really? Oh, thank goodness!"

Sage Celeste gestured for Rosa to stand up, and she did, following her a short distance away and suddenly coming to a stop.

"Here we are."

But Rosa didn't see anything, aside from a cliff overlooking the kingdom, as the sun began to rise.

"Um… where exactly is it?"

Celeste gestured to a branch sticking out of the ground just next to Rosa, and, still confused, she grabbed hold of it and attempted to yank it from the ground. She was unsuccessful, but was surprised when she was able to pull the branch towards her like a lever. This caused the ground below the both of them to rumble, and a large patch of snow gave way into a staircase that had not been there before. Rosa looked over to Celeste to say thanks, but Celeste was staring at her with an oddly sorrowful expression on her face, as if she had realised something horrifying.

"W-What's wrong?" she asked worriedly.

"...best of luck on your endeavour." Celeste replied simply, before disappearing into a cloud of sparkles. Rosa stuck out an arm to try and stop her, but it was too late.

"Well, maybe it doesn't matter. I can't stop now."

And with that, she headed down the stone steps and, finally, into Grimm's lair.


	10. CHAPTER 10: Pain

Rosa's footsteps on the checkered linoleum flooring of Grimm's base echoed loudly around the overly grandiose halls. She was not very concerned with being quiet, since she was mostly focused on killing Grimm and going home. However, stealth ended up being important when Rosa heard more footsteps - they were loud and rapid, and they became louder as whoever was running approached her. She turned around, but before she could get a good look at her attacker, they had delivered a flying kick to her face, knocking her out completely.

Rosa did not wake up on her own. She was slapped awake, and when she came to, there were two Pokemon hovering over her. One of them she immediately recognised as Grimm, but she didn't know who the other was. They were a Lopunny dressed in a sleeveless shirt that exposed her stomach, as well as very short shorts, and knee-high brown boots. Rosa realised she was still lying down and attempted to sit up, but she couldn't. Looking down, she first noticed that she was naked, before realising that she was restrained to a table, her pose resembling an X.

"Why, if it isn't Magia's little apprentice." Grimm said, sneering down at Rosa. His Lopunny assistant flashed a similarly menacing smile.

"W-What is this? W-Where did you take me?!" Rosa could feel a thin trickle of blood running out of her mouth from where Lopunny had kicked her.  
"You're trespassing on my lair, obviously! I already killed Magia, and since she was so great and powerful, what are the chances of you surviving me? KIlling Magia was enough for me, but when you showed up, I thought why not rid the land of both witches? Everyone will thank me for it!"

"If you want to k-kill me, then w-why am I tied up here?"

"You see, I had to dispose of Magia quickly when I found her, since even if I brought her here, she's much too skilled in magic to just sit here and take it. You, on the other hand… are perfectly inept. I'll just use you to pay for all the suffering Magia caused Pokemon, including myself when I was trapped between dimensions."

Rosa whimpered at the sound of this. She didn't like the idea of paying for suffering, especially since looking around the cold stone room, it most likely meant torture.

"Now, let's see… Vanilla, would you like to propose your first idea?"

This told Rosa that the Lopunny was named Vanilla. She leaned over and whispered in Grimm's ear, and he smiled a wide grin worthy of his Gengar species.

"Oh, yes, that'll start us off perfectly!"

Grimm strode over to a lever near the wall as Vanilla watched over Rosa, making sure she didn't find a way to escape somehow. When he pulled the lever, a contraption descended from the ceiling that appeared to simply consist of a metal tube.

"Okay, Rosa… open wide!" Grimm commanded, turning a crank near the lever that extended the tube. Realising what might happen next, Rosa closed her mouth and prevented the tube from entering her. She only remained like this for about five seconds before Vanilla quickly tickled her underarm, causing her to laugh, and allowing the tube to jam itself in, much to Rosa's sudden dismay. Without warning, the tube began to siphon some kind of liquid through Rosa's body, but it did not seem to do anything until Grimm explained it.

"It's called Sluggish Acid, and that's because it doesn't hurt until a few seconds after it makes contact!"

Sure enough, the inside of Rosa's body began to burn as if it was scraped apart with a cheese grater and a large amount of lemon juice was poured into it. Rosa wanted to scream, but she couldn't due to the tube down her throat, and the liquid kept coming. In fact, Grimm only stopped the acid after it was leaking out of every orifice on Rosa's body (yes, all of them). The tube was retracted, and she was finally able to let out a wail of pain.

"Already screaming? We've only just reached round two! Vanilla, what's your next idea?"

Again, Vanilla bent over to whisper to Grimm, and he chortled deviously. As she mumbled away, Vanilla pointed to something tucked away in the corner of the room. Rosa could just see what it was, and she immediately felt sick - it was a Judas cradle. She decided she needed to get out of there right that moment, but the only problem was how. Luckily, she didn't need to come up with any elaborate plans, as Vanilla had begun to untie her from the table to move her to the next contraption. As soon as her final leg was freed, she kicked Vanilla hard in the stomach and took off past them. Grimm tried to catch her with his hands, but she barely broke free and ran out the door of the torture chamber.

"GAAH! I knew I should've brought my staff down here!"

It was the fastest Rosa had ever ran in her life, but her life depended on it. She could faintly hear the voice of Grimm behind her, as well as the echoing clomping of Vanilla's boots on the floor. In her rush to outrun them, she almost tripped over a weird pile on the floor - weird, until Rosa noticed that it was her belongings, clothes and all. Grimm and Vanilla likely discarded them here after knocking her out, and she gathered them and ducked into a side room to get changed. Once she was ready, she stepped out and noticed that the two of them had run right past the side room, in a moment of foolishness, allowing her to escape. However, that was not her intention. She still wanted Grimm dead, even more so now than before after experiencing his torment firsthand.


	11. CHAPTER 11: Showdown

Rosa stormed down the halls of the lair, her insides still burning from the acid, and thoroughly ready to tear Grimm apart. It didn't take long for her to find him, standing in what appeared to be the main room of the base, with Vanilla by his side.

"Oh, there you are." Grimm said, still grinning widely. "Finally decided to show up, huh?"

Rosa said nothing in response, her breaths deep and shaky. The two stared each other down from opposite ends of the room before Rosa drew her wand and pointed it at Grimm.

"For Arceus's sake, girl, you're holding a stick! That's not threatening at all!"

He drew his staff, which was definitely much larger than Rosa's wand. The two continued to glare at each other, before Vanilla rose her arms and spoke the first word that Rosa had heard from her:

"Fight!"

Grimm immediately fired off a set of dark energy balls from his staff, which Rosa just barely slipped through. In retaliation, she fired her own set of fireballs, but these missed Grimm and took out the wall behind him, causing rubble to pile in front of it.

"Watch where you're shooting! This base took forever to build!" Grimm did not appear to be taking the fight very seriously, since he knew Rosa was not the most skilled magician. She responded with another flurry of fireballs, some of which hit Grimm, and others hitting more parts of the wall. Grimm suddenly disappeared, and Rosa was looking everywhere for him, when she heard something behind her.

"You are… already dead."

"What?!"

Before Rosa had a chance to react, Grimm put the tip of his staff into her tail and cast an electric spell. She was electrocuted rather badly, and once Grimm was done, she collapsed before him.

"Well… that was anticlimactic. Suppose that's what happens when you cross me."

And with that, Grimm turned around and began his exit, with Vanilla behind. However, Rosa was not dead. She weakly grabbed her wand and used her spell of telekinesis on a large piece of rubble, flinging it at the back of Grimm's head. He fell on his face before standing back up and watching Rosa pull herself from the ground.

"Y-You're gonna have to try a little harder than that."

Grimm turned around and knew that Rosa was not going to take much effort to eliminate now. He began to charge a shot from his staff as he dodged Rosa's efforts to attack him, and once it was charged enough, he shot the wall behind Rosa, causing a large amount of rubble to fall and engulf her. There was no way for her to survive in a weakened state under a pile of rubble that big.

"There we go. Now are we done here?"

However, the rubble cleared, and Rosa was still standing, surrounded by a blue bubble, and holding her wand upright in front of her. Grimm swore to himself and stepped closer to Rosa.

"You're really testing my patience here, girl. If you've survived for this long, then why not just give up now before I actually kill you?"

But Rosa didn't budge. She kept standing in her magical barrier, staring at him.

"That shield won't stop an attack from me. I'm warning you, just give up. If you leave, I'll leave you alone."

There was a pause before Rosa's response.

"...okay."

Rosa put her wand down, dispelling the barrier.

"If you really want me to, then I'll give up. You've proven your authority over me."

She folded her arms and took a few steps towards where the exit was. Grimm, evidently relieved, turned around and began leaving, as well. However, Rosa had somehow managed to deceive him. As he was leaving, she quickly whipped out her wand and shot him in the back with what she thought was a spell that would just hurt him. It turned out to be more effective than that. The spell she had cast was a freezing spell, and sure enough, Grimm stopped moving and froze in his position as he was struck with the spell.

"Now for the finishing touch."

Rosa strode over to Grimm's frozen body and charged a fire spell from her wand. However, she was unable to finish before Vanilla saw what she had done, gasped, and ran at top speed over to her.

"Unfreeze him, now!"

Rosa ignored her and kept charging the spell, her arm high in the air. She didn't finish charging before Vanilla dove for her and wrapped her legs around her head, trying to crush her skull with her thighs. Rosa's concentration broke and the spell stopped charging as she tried her best to pull Vanilla's surprisingly muscular legs off of her, but it was fruitless. Safe to say Rosa's face got a lot more of Vanilla's crotch than she ever would've wanted.

"UNFREEZE HIM, YOU BITCH! DO IT NOW!"

So much pressure was being placed on Rosa's head that she legitimately thought her skull would cave in, and it would've happened if she didn't act fast. One idea that came into her head was insane and also a little bit repulsive, but Rosa felt like it was her last choice. Her arms were still free, and she was still holding onto her wand, so as Vanilla squeezed her head with her legs, Rosa grabbed hold of the back of her shorts and yanked them down, doing the same with her panties that came after.

"HEY, WHAT ARE YOU-"

With Vanilla's rear end exposed, Rosa hesitated for a second before jamming her wand in there and casting an electric spell. Vanilla yelped with surprise as she was electrocuted, and her grip on Rosa loosened as she fell to the ground, blacked out. With her taken care of, Rosa focused her attention back on Grimm. She decided that killing him would take too long, so she did what Magia had done. She closed her eyes and focused deeply on her memories, remembering how to cast a specific spell, and once she remembered, she proceeded in doing so. A screen of light appeared around Grimm, and within seconds, he had vanished. Rosa's job was complete. She did not kill Grimm, but she had eternally frozen and trapped him between dimensions, effectively accomplishing the same goal.

"Master… I hope that was good enough…" she said, looking up at the ceiling, and fully realising that her adventure was now over. She walked past Vanilla's fainted body, and decided she could deal with it when she regained consciousness.

Rosa walked up the steps of the base and out in the fresh, open air of the mountain. The snowstorm had stopped, and the weather was surprisingly warm for an altitude this high up. Rosa stood a short distance away from the cliffside and stared out over the land, thoroughly ready to return back to her hut and give herself a well-earned rest. Turning around, she went to find Kris and inform him of her victory. Before she knew it, though, there was a certain meat cleaver lodged in her skull. Sylvia had snuck up on her and attacked fatally, right after her adventure was over, too.

"Man, I don't know why I didn't do this in the first place." she muttered, removing the meat cleaver from Rosa's skull and striking her arms, legs, and neck with it. "Thank Arceus that's over with. What did I tell you? NO-ONE escapes me when I'm hired."

And Sylvia left Rosa's remains to rot, swiftly descending the mountain and heading to Princess Lotus's castle town to collect her hard-earned reward.

THE END


End file.
